Eagles down Blackhawks in bottom of 7th

DOBSON — Surry Central scored in its last at-bat to beat West Wilkes 7-6 at home Saturday.

The Golden Eagles held an early lead, then fell behind in the fourth.

The Eagles tied the game in the fifth and retook the lead in the sixth before West Wilkes came back in its last gasp.

In the first inning, the Blackhawks pushed one across, but the Eagles answered with four runs in the bottom of the first.

In the top of the second, West Wilkes scored twice to cut the lead to 4-3.

After a scoreless third, the Blackhawks scored twice in the fifth to go up 5-4.

In the bottom of the fifth, Central’s Forest Kimbrell smashed an inside pitch to left-center for a double.

Stephen Bruner bounced a single through the left side with Kimbrell advancing to third. On the throw home, Bruner took second.

After a grounder and a strikeout, it looked like the visiting team might get out of the jam. Then a passed ball reached the backstop, and Kimbrell raced him.

Kimbrell and the pitcher reached home about the same time, and the tag may not have been in time, but it didn’t matter as Kimbrell jarred the ball out of the glove for an easy safe call.

In the sixth inning, Brett Mosley hit a towering fly ball that went over the left fielder’s head for a double.

Kaden Leonard followed with a single to center to score Mosley to give the Eagles a 6-5 lead.

The Eagles then put men on first and second with just one out, but the next batter hit a sharp grounder to third for a 5-3 double play.

With Leonard on in relief of starter Cole Fowler, the Eagles looked to shut the door, but the Blackhawks wouldn’t go easy.

The leadoff hitter wrapped a single to center, and the next batter blooped a ball off the end of the bat to center.

A sacrifice bunt moved both runners over a base.

A grounder to short would have been a very tough out at home, and with Coach Matt Scott telling his team to be sure to get an out, Kimbrell fired the ball to first for the second out as the tying run scored.

The visitors might have scored again, but for the second straight inning, Jake Wilmoth made a running catch in center field.

Wilmoth made a SportsCenter-worthy catch to end the sixth, running hard to his left and laying out for the grab. In the seventh, he charged in and and slid on one leg as he made the catch.

Tied up at 6-all, the Eagles had the heart of their order up with Bruner, Fowler and Jess Wilmoth.

Bruner hit a hard ball up the middle that the second baseman was able to knock down. Bruner beat out the play at first, then stole second to get in scoring position.

After a strikeout, Wilmoth slammed a hard grounder toward the second baseman. The fielder got into position, but the next bounce shot up and over his head and into right-center as Bruner rounded third and trotted home for the win.